Toyota Boshoku hires Tucker as plant manager in Blue Springs

Toyota Boshoku America, a manufacturer of automotive interior systems, has announced that Johnny Tucker will play a major role in the company's start-up and production efforts as plant manager at its new plant in Blue Springs, Miss.

"We are privileged to have Johnny join our team and lead our production and start-up efforts in Mississippi," said Mike Mitchell, human resources manager for Toyota Boshoku Mississippi, in a statement. "His extensive expertise in engineering and management with a world-class company proved him to be the best candidate for the job. Johnny is one of the best and most qualified team members that Northeast Mississippi has to offer."

With more than 25 years of experience in manufacturing, Tucker has held positions as industrial engineer at Charm Step Shoe in Fulton, Miss., and Krueger Metal in Tupelo, Miss.

Toyota Boshoku is based in Kariya, Japan, with annual revenues of $12 billion and operations in more than 20 countries. Its wholly owned subsidiary, Toyota Boshoku America, and its affiliates employ 7,000 team members and have 23 locations throughout the U.S., Canada, Mexico and Argentina.

CWTAR research says housing market strong in West Tennessee

Research completed for the Central West Tennessee Association of Realtors on the housing market in seven West Tennessee counties shows marked differences between the local housing market and the national picture.

According to the research, the Central West Tennessee region, which is comprised of Madison, Chester, Crockett, Gibson, Hardeman, Haywood and Henderson counties, has been much more stable in terms of existing home sales, housing starts and average sale prices than the national market overall.

The growth rate in housing starts has been much higher for the past few years in the six counties surrounding Madison County in the CWTAR region. The housing starts in those six counties (608) exceeded the housing starts in Madison County (599) for the first time ever in 2006.

Nationally, existing home sales reached a record number in 2005 before a downturn began. In the CWTAR region, the number of existing home sales continued to climb through 2006. The 2,762 existing homes sold in the CWTAR region in 2007 was down only 130 homes from the 2006 high.

"We had been seeing double-digit growth rates in home sales since 2001," said Ray Addison, president of the board for CWTAR, in a statement. "A couple of years we saw 20% growth rates. What we saw last year was our area catching its breath after such a steep climb in growth."

Average home sale prices showed steady growth from 2001 through 2005, climbing from $86,640 to $95,151. In 2006, the average sales price jumped 6.3% to $101,165. The 2007 average sales price was $99,359, down 1.8% from the previous year and brought the overall growth for the period back to the average of approximately 3% per year that the CWTAR region has seen since the late 1990s.

CWTAR is a local association of real estate professionals which works to provide the general public with real estate information.

California manufacturer of saws, grinders moving to Selmer, Tenn.

American Meat Equipment Corp., a California manufacturer of meat-cutting equipment, is moving its operations to Selmer, Tenn.

The company manufactures saws and various grinders for the food processing industry under the Butcher Boy name.

Ken Mode, president of the company, said the company will change its name to American Meat Equipment LLC once the move is completed.

The company is moving operations from Montebello, Calif., into the former Reitter & Schefenacker building in Selmer sometime in September and will create 80 jobs or more within the next year. The company is expected to start hiring in July.